He was tall with broad shoulders and long, long legs. The sort of man who took up all the air in a room. She acknowledged that he was handsome, although she found his jaw too stubborn. Right now, he appeared as if he’d had a bad night. He’d not shaved and his untamed hair was hopelessly windblown. When he was younger, she remembered him as being the white blond of a Viking. Now his hair was the color of winter grain.
The earl had first annoyed her when she was six. She had accidentally fallen into a puddle. The white cotton of her favorite dress had quickly soaked up the muddy water, ruining it forever. She’d been panicked because how was she going to explain that to Mrs. Taylor—and then she’d heard him laughing. Clarissa could perfectly recall the amusement on his face.
Nor did it stop there. Over the years, he had continued to snipe at her. No matter what she was doing, there he was.
Even on the worst night of her life, when she’d realized that the man she had been promised to for years was in love with another, when her only security for the future had crumbledaround her, Marsden had been completely unsympathetic. He’d actually taken her to task as if he was the headmaster of the School of Life and lectured her as if she was a dunderhead while ignoring the fact thathe’dbeen well into his cups. Which was not surprising. The only thing the man did well was drink.
On top of those complaints lurked something else. Something she couldn’t name. It wasn’t exactly fear... more of an awareness. Marsden was a dark shadow in her life, always lurking when she wasn’t at her best.
So, of course, he would show upnow.
She braced herself, knowing that once he learned what happened in London, he would have some cutting comment to make.
Except, he wasn’t interested in her. Instead, he stood awkwardly in front of the table holding a bundle of blankets as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. “I knocked. I let myself in when no one answered.” He was dressed for riding and even sans hat appeared the very model of a country horseman. Buff leather breeches hugged strong thighs, his boots dusty from his ride. He wore a jacket of the finest bottle green worsted. Clarissa could be jealous of the quality of that material.
Mrs. Warbler rose. Like all the matrons, she had a secret soft spot for the earl. They always forgave his antics, even in the face of his obvious disdain for them. They didn’t know him the way Clarissa did.
“It is fine, my lord,” Mrs. Warbler said. “Is there a way I can be of service?”
“I pray so.” He hadn’t even looked in Clarissa’s direction. “I don’t know what to do with her.”
“Her?” Mrs. Warbler echoed.
At that moment, a wee foot with a tiny shoe popped out of the top of one of the blankets.
“Oh, God,” Marsden said with genuine alarm. He righted what he was carrying and a goblin’s head with a halo of straight black hair and an expression of outrage popped up out of the bundle.
A baby?
Clarissa knew she wasn’t the only one shocked.
The child scrunched her eyes, looking slightly confused.
Clarissa rose to her feet. “My lord.” She didn’t mean the title as a sign of respect but as a true, horror-filled cry to a higher deity. “Were you holding that baby upside down?”
“I fear so,” he admitted, appearing almost as shocked by the child in his arms as the other women were. “I mean, momentarily... apparently.”
The child’s face crumpled. “Oh, no, here it comes. She never stops,” he muttered, a beat before the baby screamed her outrage. And Clarissa understood. The child protested his callous treatment of her—oh, yes, Clarissa could commiserate too well.
She reached for the baby. She was the only one to move. The other women were too stunned.
To her surprise, he held on. “She’s mine,” he said.
“Do you know what you are doing?” Clarissa asked.
“No.”
“Well, then, let me have her.”
He did, practically shoving the child into her arms.
Chapter Three
Women do have their place in society... although I’m not quite certain where.
—Book of Mars
The moment Mars handed his infant daughter off to Miss Taylor, he wanted to collapse with relief.
